Questions on handling a molt

[Aries]

My bird is moulting. He is a little grump :) This is his first molt and I can tell it has been hard on him. He has about ten pin feathers coming in at one time on his head. They feel extremely hard and it seems like it would be painful so I dont get mad when he is a gripe LOL He has even more coming in on his body. Is it normal for their first molt to be a heavy one?

My questions are......

He has lost a good bit of his flight. I know this is normal while molting. Question is...... this does mean he has lots some of his wing feathers. He is clipped. Will he regain his flight fully like flight feathers and all once he is done?

Also, I know I am supposed to help him with the pin feathers. Some of them are still kinda short. How am I supposed to help him out with that? Do I have to wait until their longer or what?

He seems to enjoy a bath more than ever now and loves to be right under a stream of water now. It must really help a lot with the moulting. It's so cute. He is looking a bit ruff though. LOL

[jenniferag]

my conure is the same way... she has pin feathers all over head right now... I'll help with the longer ones she has... kind of pinching the longer ones and popping that sheath.... her short ones I can't really get too and they seem more sore anyways so I just wait for them to get longer before I can help her...

mine loves the bath more time when she has pin feathers... I think it feels ectra good to get them soaked with warm water

The flight feathers should all grow back too... mines are coming back in nicely

[Aries]

Originally Posted by jenniferag

my conure is the same way... she has pin feathers all over head right now... I'll help with the longer ones she has... kind of pinching the longer ones and popping that sheath.... her short ones I can't really get too and they seem more sore anyways so I just wait for them to get longer before I can help her...

mine loves the bath more time when she has pin feathers... I think it feels ectra good to get them soaked with warm water

The flight feathers should all grow back too... mines are coming back in nicely

Thanks for the reply. Yeah I was just wondering if I would have to clip them again after the moult. I have some more training I would like to do before I give him full flight. I am also still working on flight suit training so not ready yet for full flight. I would like for him to get his half flight back though :) It is so cute when he flies to us from far away. He is a strong flier and clipping only lowers his flight but does nothing for the distance he can get. LOL I guess I'll have to wait till they get longer then. I have no nails to pop anything though. Hmmmm :)

[jenniferag]

I know what you mean... mine is definitely growing her flight feathers back but she got good distance before with the full clip anyways

[Abby]

I put cucumber into the fresh mix when my guys are moulting. A breeder suggested it to me. No scientific evidence what so ever that it works but I find it does make things a little easier for them.

When one of my suns went through her first big moult she was an absolute horror. Became really really fussy with her food, lost weight for awhile, looked absolutely awful but she bounced back. Arora (RB2) is currently going through her first big moult and whilst eating eating well is being a thorough moody little cow with it. Can understand why she's stroppy though.

Just let him bathe as often as he wants to. It does help to calm things down and it sounds like he's got the brains to have worked this out.

[sunnyhoney]

would you say a molt is over when there are no more pin feathers?

[Abby]

When they stop dumping feathers and the new feathers are all grown ie when the feathers sheaths have all rubbed off without us interfering completely.